Understanding Human-Nature Relationships through Narrative-Based Surveys

The concept of relational values (RVs) has, in recent years and within the field of environmental ethics, been proposed to account for the personal, cultural, and contextual values that emerge within specific human-nature relationships. (Chan et al., 2016; Pascual et al., 2017; Himes and Muraca, 2018; Anderson et al., 2022). While RVs share elements with both intrinsic and instrumental values, their concept is able to go beyond this traditional distinction between instrumental and intrinsic values (Deplazes-Zemp, 2024): RVs emphasize the reciprocal interactions between humans and nature, and seek to understand the values that foster a deeper sense of connectedness with the natural world.

The study I aim to present focuses on the community of birdwatchers, a group whose practices embody attentive, and long-term engagement with nature (Randler, 2023): qualities that may inspire for sustainable human-nature relationships. To understand how birdwatchers value nature and what their RVs are composed of, we adopted a quantitative, narrative-based approach (Van der Merwe et al., 2019).

Narrative inquiries enabled us to capture participants’ worldviews: indeed, the way of telling a story, or sharing an experience, reflects how people make sense of this moment and its context (O’Neill, Holland and Light, 2007; McShane, 2012). More precisely, the participants of our study were invited to recall and write about a personal birdwatching experience and to answer a series of questions related to this narrative. This narrative-based survey method enabled us to capture the contextual dimension of lived experiences while allowing for statistical analysis of RVs patterns.

A total of 544 birdwatchers across Switzerland participated in the study. Statistical analyses revealed several distinct types of RVs, each characterized by specific combinations of contributions to and perceived benefits from nature. These results provide novel insights into the diversity and structure of RVs among nature observers. Beyond its empirical findings, this research demonstrates the potential of narrative-based quantitative methods for empirical environmental ethics. Ultimately, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the relational constituents necessary to foster reciprocal and respectful human–nature relationships; relationships that are essential for a sustainable future.